Thursday, January 30, 2014

Cleveland pitchers and catchers, who come [to New Orleans] Feb. 4 under the charge of Manager Joe Birmingham, will not stop at any of the Crescent City hotel. And that’s because of the Mardi Gras carnival, which always brings thousands of visitors to this city.
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In view of the big early demand for rooms none of the hotels would agree to quarter the Nap players unless they were willing to sleep four in a room. Manager Birmingham, of course, would agree to no such procedure, and the Cleveland management has arranged to have the players stop at a private boarding house near Pelican park.

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Jorge Cantu choking down the stretch of the 2008 season (no homers in his final 10 games) prevented the 2008 Florida Marlins from being the first team in history to have all four infielders hit 30 home runs, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that those infielders were named Mike Jacobs, Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu, and Hanley Ramirez.

Cantu hit his 29th homer on September 19th, but then finished the season with 33 homerless plate appearances.

Cantu's 31 Mexican League home runs last year came in 300 at-bats, no less.

I understand why there's no demand for Jorge Cantu, but I'd have to think if a guy in his early 30s, who had never played an inning in the big leagues, hit 31 HR in a half-season in Mexico, somebody would be kicking the tires. There's very little upside there, but he probably wouldn't be the worst backup corner IF in the big leagues.

For a couple years, Ford was legitimately great. Walter Johnson/Christy Mathewson great.

Nobody really remembers him because he pitched for some horrible Highlanders teams, then jumped to the Federal League, then his signature pitch (the emery ball) was taken away from him when it was banned in 1915.

In an alternate universe where he pitches for good teams and the emery ball isn't banned, he's got a shot to be a no-questions-asked Hall of Famer.

EDIT: According to wikipedia:
His statistics also reflected both his speed and wildness; he ranked third in the league with 137 strikeouts but also finished third with 176 walks. In addition, he led all NL hurlers with 22 wild pitches.[1] Meekin also hit three triples in a game that season, on July 4; this set a record for pitchers that has never been equaled.
Whaddayaknow!

Sosa, Banks, Hornsby, Jenkins, Ellsworth, Alexander, Griffith, Hutchinson, and Clarkson twice. Those last 2 guys did so by pitching 500-600 innings from little league distances at a decent, but not earth shattering rate. Griffith was actually quite stellar in 1898.

Only six different Phillies -- all pitchers -- have had a 10-WAR season (Charlie Buffinton, G.C. Alexander and Steve Carlton each did it twice, plus Kid Gleason, Charlie Ferguson and Dan Casey). Robin Roberts had 9.8 in 1953. Schmidt had 9.7 in 1974 and almost certainly would have topped 10 in '81 without the strike (he had 7.7 WAR in just 102 games).

White Sox have 4, like the Phillies, all pitcher. Ed, Red and Eddie, plus Wilbur. Ed did it 3 times, and Wilbur twice. Rounding out the Sox top 10 seasons are one more each from Ed, Red, and Eddie.

Faber gets a bad rap as a marginal HOFer, but he looks pretty solid. 4,000 IP with an ERA+ of 119 with a nice peak (WAR from 1920-1922 of 26.6). Add in some war credit (missed most of 1918, and took some time to recover and had a lost 1919), and he's well qualified.

The Rangers had only two players who ever had over 8 WAR: AROD in each of his seasons here, and Josh Hamilton in his MVP season. All between 8 and 9. Their highest pitching total is 7.7 (Ferguson Jenkins, 1974 when he won 25 games).

The Rangers had only two players who ever had over 8 WAR: AROD in each of his seasons here, and Josh Hamilton in his MVP season. All between 8 and 9. Their highest pitching total is 7.7 (Ferguson Jenkins, 1974 when he won 25 games).

Of the original 16 teams, the Orioles are by far the worst. 1 season by Ripken. The Pirates have 2 seasons by Wagner, and 2 seasons by a guy throwing 500 innings from LL distance, so he doesn't really count. The Dodgers have 2 each from Vance and Koufax.

The Pirates have 2 seasons by Wagner, and 2 seasons by a guy throwing 500 innings from LL distance, so he doesn't really count.

Very pedantic, but it's what we do:

Pink Hawley (who?) had a 10.9 WAR season for the Pirates in 1895, pitching from 60'6''. 444 innings with an ERA+ of 143, combined with a .308/.326/.497 line in 193 plate appearances as a hitter. His 5 homers were the second most on the team, as was the .497 slugging percentage.